POWER PLANT
08/03/2017 - 19/03/2017
Production Details
Aucklanders will be delighted to know that the Auckland Arts Festival will enliven the Domain again, in March 2017. This time, with an incredible array of enchanting and thought-provoking light and sound installations created by the Power Plant group of critically-acclaimed international artists.
A sell-out at festivals the world over, Power Plant is a captivating nocturnal journey through the bush, for young and old, into a fascinating world where art and nature combine. The magical realm has been designed by Mark Anderson, Anne Bean, Ulf Mark Pedersen, Jony Easterby, Kirsten Reynolds and New Zealand’s sonicsfromscratch.
Audiences will experience the Domain as they have never done before, with the familiar tracks and flora transformed into a strange journey into another world. It’s as if time is put on hold as gramophones spin sparkling sounds, haunting whistles rise and fall and shimmering flowers dance to their own tune.
The first ever Power Plant was commissioned in 2005 and was an immediate success. This includes the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it became a must-see show, and a season as the star attraction of Lumiere, the UK’s largest light festival.
Power Plant undertook its first major international tour in 2011, attracting huge audiences at Sydney Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival and Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island.
With most events sold-out, including its runaway season at the 2014 New Zealand Festival, Power Plant has been seen by well over 75,000 people worldwide. If Aucklanders and visitors to the city are only going to one show this Auckland Arts Festival, Power Plant should be it.
A magical and… thrilling experience – The Telegraph, UK
It’s eccentric, haunting, touching, entertaining and mesmerising. Sometimes, all at once. – crikey.com, Australia
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GA Adult $35 | GA Conc / Group $32 | GA Child (14 and under) $15 | GA Child (4 and under) Free |
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Wednesday 8 – Sunday 12 March Tuesday 14 – Sunday 19 March 8.15 – 10.00pm |
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Auckland Domain. Domain Drive, opposite duck pond and café. |
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ticketmaster.co.nz | 09 951 2501 |
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1hr, no interval |
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Outdoor performance. Limited capacity – book early. Entry to Power Plant is in small groups every 15 minutes throughout the night. Once you are in the venue, take your time until close. Book your slot by now by going to aaf.co.nz Please wear comfortable shoes. There are hills and steps on the walk. Not suitable for buggies or strollers. Not all the tracks are wheelchair friendly. If you wish to attend please phone Ticketmaster for more information. 09 951 2501 |
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Video (Mark Anderson): https://vimeo.com/user12345609 More info (Anne Bean): http://www.annebean.net/ Produced by Simon Chatterton and originally commissioned by OCM and Oxford Botanical Gardens With support from Foundation North and Pub Charity |
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Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: @AKLFestival #aklfest Festival trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrRTpSEIfk&feature=youtu.be |
Spectacle , Outdoor , Theatre ,
1 hour, no interval
Mystical nocturnal immersion
Review by Chloe Klein 10th Mar 2017
Power Plant is a lighting, sound and sculptural installation running at Auckland Domain until the 19th of March.
We arrive at Power Plant nervous about the weather. However far from taking away from the nocturnal walkthrough, the blustery winds added to the mystique and otherworldliness of the Domain. The walk itself is mostly sheltered from winds so don’t let this deter you from this immersive and sensory experience.
The walk features several attention-catching installations as a series of vignettes that progress throughout. We are welcomed to the entrance with syncopated beats performed by several tall poles popping fire into the wind playfully. We pass through an arch of snapping and crackling electricity, a grove of haunting and empty dresses filled with bodies of light, and an expertly crafted projection, fluid and textured, always altering and reforming.
Tying these chapters together is the ever-present hum of electricity, and occasional offerings of out-of-place yet familiar soundscapes: singing, whistling, birds, monkeys. Multi-coloured lights hide off the path, illuminating patches of brush. Areas of bush I have in the past walked by without note are reframed with intrigue and I find myself curious for the ordinary.
The Power Plant experience is surreal and ethereal. At times it’s eerie. There were moments I found myself on edge at each rustle in the bush. Sounds appear and reappear without warning. Creatures clicking and croaking, haze and mist in a tunnel of trees at times give the walk a Jurassic Park feel. These are contrasted by moments of magic: glowing fireflies whizzing just out of reach and native glow worms complementing the fluorescents around them. Disco balls cast a swirling kaleidoscope of light accompanied by soundscapes of the same material playing on the gramophone.
Power Plant is curated with finesse. For an hour I was in another dimension – a dimension of wonder and of curiosity.
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